We're almost to the end of the 80's, but that doesn't mean the awesomeness is over - not even close. 1988 was yet another year of great music and movies, and both good times and bad.

Construction on the Faith Sultan Mehmet Bridge, also known as the Second Bosphorus Bridge, is completed. Located in Istanbul, Turkey, it is the fifth largest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its construction. It spans a total of 1,510 meters and is eight lanes across. It is one of three bridges that connect Europe to Asia. At the time of its opening, the Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Özal became the first person to drive across.   

Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States involving the Iran-Contra Affair.

Panama leader General Manual Antonio Noriega, is charged with drug smuggling and money laundering.

The Last Emperor, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, wins 9 Oscars.

Debbie Gibson became theyoungest female artist to write, produce, and perform a #1 hit with "FoolishBeat" at age 17. The record still holds till this day.   

Former pop singer Sonny Bono is elected mayor of Palm Springs, California.

The English Pound Note ceases to be legal tender.

Murder rates were so high during the 1980's in Miami, Florida, that the Dade County Medical Examiner's Office rented a refrigerated trailer from Burger King to handle the overflow of corpses.

In the 1980's, New York City was terrorized by a street gang called the Decepticons. They had names like Megatron and Soundwave, and they called Brooklyn "Cybertron".

In the war on drugs, U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill providing the death penalty for murderous drug traffickers.  

A bus disaster near Carrollton, Kentucky was caused by a drunk driver going the wrong way on Interstate 71, hitting a converted school bus carrying a church youth group from Radcliff, Kentucky. The resulting fire kills 27, making it tied for 1st in the U.S. for most fatalities involving 2 vehicles to the present day. Ironically, the other 2-vehicle accident involving a bus that also killed 27 occurred in Prestonsburg, Kentucky 30 years prior.

A report by U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop states that the addictive properties of nicotine are similar to those of heroin and cocaine.

Four workers are asphyxiated at a metal-plating plant in Auburn, Indiana, in the worst confined-space industrial accident in U.S. history. A fifth victim died 2 days later.

The Piper Alpha drilling platform in the North Sea is destroyed by explosions and fires, killing 165 oil workers and 2 rescue mariners.

The first reported medical waste on beaches in the greater New York area (including hypodermic needles and syringes possibly infected with the AIDS virus) washes ashore on Long Island. Subsequent medical waste discoveries on beaches in Coney Island and in Monmouth County, New Jersey force the closure of numerous New York-area beaches in the middle of one of the hottest summers in the American Northeast on record.

The Iran-Iraq war ends, with an estimated 1 million lives lost.

In the United States presidential election, George H. W. Bush is elected over Michael Dukakis.

In Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed.

A cyclone in Bangladesh leaves 5 million homeless and thousands dead, and an earthquake in Armenia kills 60,000.

Archaeologists uncover the original Globe Theater in London.

Over 1/3 of Yellowstone National Park is destroyed when a a series of more than 250 small different fires combined with the 1988 drought destroys 793,880 acres of the park.

Hurricane Gilbert devastated Jamaica and turned towards Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula two days later.

The first transatlantic fiber optic cable is laid and is able to carry 40,000 telephone calls simultaneously.

A suspected Libyan terrorist bomb explodes on a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie in Scotland, on December 21st killing all 259 on board and 11 on the ground. 

Shows like Roseanne, The Wonder Years, and Garfield cartoons were on television while iconic movies such as Coming to America, Beaches, Big, Cocktail, Beetlejuice, Young Guns, and Child's Play hit theaters.

Here are some of the songs from this year, in no particular order, from Billboard's Hot 100:

1.) INXS - Need You Tonight

2.) Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child of Mine

3.) Tiffany - Could've Been

4.) Cheap Trick - The Flame

5.) Billy Ocean - Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car

6.) Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar On Me

7.) George Michael - Father Figure

8.) Debbie Gibson - Foolish Beat

9.) Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror

10.) Robert Palmer - Simply Irresistible

11.) Def Leppard - Love Bites

12.) The Bangles - Hazy Shade of Winter

13.) INXS - New Sensation

14.) UB40 - Red, Red Wine

15.) Eric Carmen - Hungry Eyes

16.) The Beach Boys - Kokomo

17.) INXS - Never Tear Us Apart

18.) Poison - Nothin' But A Good Time

19.) Joan Jett & The Blackhearts - I Hate Myself for Loving You

20.) Bobby Brown - Don't Be Cruel

21.) Michael Jackson - Dirty Diana

22.) Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is A Place On Earth

23.) The Escape Club - Wild, Wild West

24.) Aerosmith - Angel

25.) Eric Carmen - Make Me Lose Control

26.) Belinda Carlisle - I Get Weak

27.) Tracey Chapman - Fast Car

28.) Whitesnake - Is This Love?

29.) Terrence Trent D'Arby - Wishing Well

30.) Information Society - What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)

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A/N : 1988 was like totally tubular, right?! 😂 Let me know what songs you liked!

🚨PLEASE COMMENT & VOTE!!!🚨

Info on 1988 events, movies, and songs credited to :

http://www.liketotally80s.com/2007/08/80s-capsules-1988/

http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1988.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1988

And now on to 1989...